The Joys of 5 Boys

A few weeks back, my temperature gauge read a hundred degrees, no lie. So, six Griffin’s battled an epic Marco-Polo game in our pool. Number one wasn’t home.

Seventeen-year-old, six-foot-tall number two, cannon-balled half the chlorinated water into the yard. While number three, who’s fourteen, lunged at anyone yelling “polo!”—or in number four’s case, “turtle!” (funny kid—don’t ask.)

Skinny number five swallowed gulps of waves while laughing at the idiocy of his family. And Dear Husband snuck up on each person, including his wife, to try and chuck them into the pool like a bag of dogfood.

(Doesn’t he know all teachers have eyes in the back of their heads?)

Point being, if your family is like mine, these games are few and far between. Yet, after we play them we ask ourselves, “Why don’t we do this more often?”

My answer: The “to do” list.

Don’t get me wrong, I live and die by mine. But we give power to our list and allow meaningless tasks to rob us of time. We give it permission to become more important than making memories. Why?

As I stare at mine, I wonder, how many of these errands will matter a year from now? Or, if a someone I loved became seriously ill, how many of these little “to do’s” would I regret not doing? Not one.

What I would regret is not making time to play with my family. Fostering those memories, they’ll cherish long after I’m gone. I think back to my mother-in-law who recently passed. The times we talked and laughed, but most especially the times played games. She was fiercely competitive, and I always managed to get myself on her team. Ahem.

I miss those times. There weren’t enough of them. Take it from me…laundry will still be there tomorrow, bathrooms can stay messy for another day. It won’t kill you to leave a dish in your sink. Nobody that matters will judge you.

Best advice: Go now. Cross four things off that list and push them to tomorrow. Grab your kids and soccer ball or board game. Get playing. Do it now. Before you can’t. Until next time ~Kelley